Selective herbicidal compounds play an important role in agriculture and related fields. Growers seek herbicides that kill pest plants, but do not reduce crop yield. Although numerous selective herbicides have been described, there is nevertheless a considerable interest in new compounds having a superior or different activities, because the known herbicidal compounds either are not suitable for application in certain crops, or are not sufficiently selective.
Selective herbicides the active ingredients of which are pyrindine derivatives, and particularly 2,6-substituted pyridines, are known from EP0570293, EP0692474, EP0693490 and WO 94/22833. However, 2,6-disubstituted pyridine derivatives containing two or three additional substituents have not yet been described.